BENGALURU: A monthly series with back-to-back Indie and Metal music was kickstarted this week. The first edition of Unscene had bands from the city, Kerala, Chennai and Mumbai.
Abhijit Rao and Ramakrishnan Krishnan, the organisers of Unscene, say that we can expect more every second Wednesday and Thursday of the coming months. “The idea is to help Indie music get a wider reach,” says Ramakrishnan. “We will try to bring lesser-known, good bands... hence, Unscene.”
Excerpts from interviews with bands that played at the opening show.
Playing to Swimmers
Mumbai-based Anand Bhaskar Collective presented songs from their new album Excuse Me and other compositions. Chandan, the guitarist, says, “Excuse Me is our take on the social-media culture.” Anand Bhaskar is the band’s founder and Ajay, the violinist.
The five words to describe your music?
Anand, Ajay, Chandan, Neel (bass) and Tao (drums).
One bad/weird show?
When we say bad shows, they are in terms of venue, organising, sound system etc. We did a show at Marine Centre in Navi Mumbai. When we reached the venue, we saw a swimming pool and people bathing. They stared at us like ye log kaha se aa gaye? (where did they come from). We expected the venue to be nearby but it was on the first floor, somewhere at the back.
Rocking Tamil Poems with a mask
Chennai-based Jhanu gives a rock arrangement to Tamil poems. Jhanu Chanthar, vocalist/guitarist, says the blend “just happened... Our lyricist was more comfortable in Tamil than English.” At the fest, the band played their popular number Neruppu da, a tribute to Rajnikanth. Jhanu wears a mask for every performance. Ask why and he says, “The band is named after me and also the face of the band is usually the one who stands in the front. I wanted the band to be faceless, hence the mask.”
Twisted Beauty
Bengaluru’s Orchid performed songs from their EP, which was released in November last year. “We picked the name Orchid for its twisted beauty,” says Kaushal L S, vocalist.
One special show?
After a competition in Goa which we won, we were walking on the beach. We stumbled upon a band performing there. We spoke to the artistes and jammed with them.
It was fun and exhilarating.
‘Loud and
Obnoxious’
Bengaluru-based Shepherd kept their “faster and hard-core songs” for this fest “unlike the earlier slow and gloomy gigs”, says Deepak Raghu. “We usually do sludge/heavy rock which is slower.”
The five words that describe their music?
Loud, heavy, obnoxious, rowdy and hard.
One bad/weird show?
It was at Upbeat. There was no audience. There were other electronic artistes. We sat on the chairs and couch as there was no stage and we improvised. It was fun
Dividing Lines
Chaos, from Thiruvananthapuram, played songs from their album All Against All which will be out in couple of months. “The album is about the factors that divide people like religion, caste or race,” says vocalist Jayakrishnan or JK.
One bad/weird show?
We had performed at the Techfest in Thiruvananthapuram a few years ago. When we reached the venue for a sound check, there was just an empty stage… no sound system. When we asked about it, he asked to continue with our sound check and the rest would follow.